00:00I was concerned that just before we went to war with Iran, a whole group of FBI agents were terminated,
00:07about 10, who were reportedly analysts with expertise in handling Iranian counterterrorism, fluent in Farsi, long experienced.
00:16I know there's ongoing litigation, but have you replaced them? Was there a reason for their dismissal?
00:22Do we have the capabilities we need to protect the United States while there's an ongoing war in Iran?
00:27The public reporting as to the reasons for their dismissal I found deeply troubling.
00:31As I've addressed earlier, I don't believe the public reporting is accurate.
00:35What we did do for the first time in FBI history is stand up the Iran Threats Mission Center.
00:39That is housed inside the FBI with our Iran experts, including intelligence analysts and agents.
00:44We have seen a 47% increase in the arrest of Iranian spies.
00:48Do you disagree that there were 10 Iran specialists dismissed right before the war began?
00:54Yes.
00:54You attended the Olympics in Milan.
00:58How much did your trip cost?
01:00And to what extent did that help you carry out your mission as director of the FBI?
01:06I greatly appreciate the question, Senator.
01:08As you know, the FBI and DHS are responsible for the security of the Olympics, the World Cup, the F1,
01:13the Super Bowl, and everything else.
01:14We had 250,000 Americans travel to Milan.
01:17We're proud that we stood up our jock there and had zero major security incidents involving American citizens.
01:23And what we did was we purposely planned that trip around the Olympics because, as I mentioned in my opening,
01:29the top cyber criminal from the CCP was housed in Italian custody.
01:34While there, we were able to work an agreement, an arrangement to have that individual expelled from Italy instead of
01:40going back to China, like has so often happened in places like Serbia.
01:44And so we accomplished that mission, and we kept it quiet, and that individual was returned to America two weeks
01:49ago.
01:49I was concerned that just before we went to war with Iran, a whole group of FBI agents were terminated,
01:57about 10, who were reportedly analysts with expertise in handling Iranian counterterrorism, fluent in Farsi, long experienced.
02:06I know there's ongoing litigation, but have you replaced them?
02:10Was there a reason for their dismissal?
02:12Do we have the capabilities we need to protect the United States while there's an ongoing war in Iran?
02:17The public reporting as to the reasons for their dismissal I found deeply troubling.
02:22Well, as I've addressed earlier, I don't believe the public reporting is accurate.
02:26What we did do for the first time in FBI history is stand up the Iran Threats Mission Center.
02:30That is housed inside the FBI with our Iran experts, including intelligence and analysts and agents, and we have seen
02:37a 47% increase in the arrest of Iranian spies.
02:40Do you disagree that there were 10 Iran specialists dismissed right before the war began?
02:46Yes.
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